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Russia's information warfare during the 2016 election is the new normal, said witnesses at a Senate hearing, and they argued that the U.S. needs to develop the strategy, authorities and systems to combat cyber-enabled information operations.Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee's recently formed Cybersecurity Subcommittee agreed in its first public, unclassified hearing that the U.S. is effectively fighting information warfare with one cyber arm tied behind its back. "Disinformation and 'fake news' pose a unique national security challenge for any society that values freedom of speech and a free press," said subcommittee chair Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). Dr. Rand Waltzman, senior information scientist with the RAND Corporation, framed the problem as "cognitive hacking," where Russia and other actors use cyberspace to rapidly spread disinformation to a population "predisposed to accept because it appeals to existing fears or anxieties."

As Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, gets closer to introducing a bill to begin a major organization at the Homeland Security Department, the agency is undertaking an internal review.McCaul said at the CTIA Cybersecurity Summit on April 27 in Washington, D.C. that he received comments on the draft bill from the White House and is about ready to introduce the legislation to create a new cyber agency within DHS. “It was a technical response. Generally, they were very supportive,” McCaul said after his speech. “It was more of the tweaks, which was a good sign that they are generally supportive of developing that mission within DHS.” In the meantime, DHS has just begun an effort to look at its current set of capabilities and what it will need in the future.